I'll be set up to start trying this in the near future. I've got the equipment at the moment...need to work on soldering practice and get some data on what donor carts I need and such and I should be good to go inside a month or two....I hope
I'll be set up to start trying this in the near future. I've got the equipment at the moment...need to work on soldering practice and get some data on what donor carts I need and such and I should be good to go inside a month or two....I hope
scooterb: "I once shot a man in Catan, just to watch him die."
Right on boys. Good to know theres still effort beeing put into this.
Im not really into turn based RPG's and I pretty much have most of the NES repros Id like to have already including a few customs I had gamereproductions make for me (love that guy!) so Im good for that. But I'll still be waiting to fork over some cash for a few SNES repros. Id really like to get SOM2 (3 Player), SOE (2 Player), and Terranigma out of the way and then casually grab others I have in mind through time.
So when you got your operation up and running you got yourself a long term customer here!
Hi,
Looks like nice work so far, if either of you get stuck with anything give me a shout. Some of the repros i've done can be seen in this thread;
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/show...ghlight=repros
Always happy to help a fellow soldering iron junkie
Kind Regards, Andy.
http://vectrex.playntradeonline.com - Home of the 72-in-1 Vectrex multicart
MadTitan gave up, which sucks because I made custom labels for him in exchange for some repros. Now he's got my labels and I've got nothing...
SO, if any of you who are making repros want some labels let me know because I was really excited to be getting a SoM 2.
Well its not the end of the world. If he gave up then he wont be using them anyway. At least give him credit for trying.
I too am interested in making my own carts... However the one question I need answering is where do you get your eeproms from and which ones are the right ones to get?
Same question applies to NES, SMS and Genny eeproms!
Ive been looking at the willem programmers, but didnt want to buy until i knew i could source some eeproms!
Any help will be greatly appreciated!
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True, unless of course he actually made some but then told me he failed just to keep from having to send me some. I'm not saying he did do that, but I wouldn't rule it out. And it's not like I just whipped those labels up either, I spent a decent amount of time on them.Originally Posted by BadChad
OK I found a site that sells snes repros Here there a lot of money 1 Game = $250.00
2 Games = $450.00 gee, but it can happen and $60.00 a cart sounds good now.
I hope someone dose this, I would get a few at $60.00 a pop and I bet others would to. You would make a good buck.
Wow, that's such a ripoff. The finish (or lack thereof) on the labels are a joke too.
EBay
You might also check...
www.digikey.com and
www.mouser.com
They both carry EEPROMS and take orders from individuals.
"Game programmers are generally lazy individuals. That's right. It's true. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Since the dawn of computer games, game programmers have looked for shortcuts to coolness." Kurt Arnlund - Game programmer for Activision, Accolade...
In the jpg on the last page, Licensed is spelled wrong. Dunno if someone mentioned it,but I was too lazy to read everyone's post.
-Rob
The moral is, don't **** with Uncle Tim when he's been drinking!
Yeah I knew about this place for a while, but theres no way in hell Id spend that kind of money on them. VERY unreasonable, especially when all 3 can be done for less than the cost on 1!
Judging from the cost of EPROMs, the number of EPROMs needed, and the donor carts, I'm estimating that carts should cost easily $60-80 to sell when all is said and done, possibly more depending on the game. Some of em take up to 4 $10+ EPROMs. Plus whatever a donor cart costs...and some need more expensive games like Donkey Kong Country or Super Mario All Stars and whatnot that you might not be able to find easily for $3 or $4. Plus labor...and right now I won't be fast at this. And that doesn't include shipping, and I haven't figured out how much it'll cost to make labels either.
And even after all that, the profit margin won't be large. It'd be nice to make $15-20 a cart on the time involved, but honestly, I'm not sure I'd even be able to make that much and have people actually buy em. $60 a cart seems low honestly. $250 is obviously unreasonable, but some of the more complex ones (like Secret of Mana 2) are looking like they'll easily be in the $80+ range when all is finished. I'd assume those $250 prices are for someone that's making them and billing by the hour.
Last edited by maxlords; 09-16-2008 at 10:10 PM.
scooterb: "I once shot a man in Catan, just to watch him die."
i think $80 a cart is very reasonable.
I have Star Ocean, Bahamut Lagoon, Front Mission, FF V, and Dragon Quest V and if you look at all the soldering and such that was needed to do it, it is well worth the $80 in my opinion
Yeah I agree. Thats pretty much what I payed for my SNES repros and I think its a very reasonable price.
Wow I've been looking at making some snes repros to sell and I had no idea how huge of an interest there is in them. I've made a few personal proto reprogrammable carts and they worked great, a single repro is a piece of cake.
So I have a great source of next to free donor carts, I know for a fact Troy Aikman's Football makes an excellent up to 32 mbit lo-rom games with 64 kb of sram. It can also be converted to hi-rom if need be though I would rather find another similar donor game that is already internally masked to hi-rom pinout, shouldn't be too hard to find a bunch from my source.
However games that use add-on chips would be too costly as there are some chips that only one or two games used. (Megaman X 2 and X 3 come to mind) so keep that in mind. Also for eproms/flash chips I have another source that I can get them from for pretty cheap, and I calculated the cost of chips to be at most ~$25.00, that would be for a 32 Mbit game. For tales of phantasia or star ocean it would be more like $35 minimum in the chips.
I am trying to gauge interest before i plunk down some money on the initial investment. Here are some caveats to me making and selling some repros:
1. 1 MB 8-bit eproms or flash chips are a bit hard to come by, and I don't think my source has any atm. I could use twice the amount of 0.5 MB eproms, but honestly anything more than 16 Mbit would be more trouble than it's worth with 0.5 MB eproms. That would require me cramming 8 of them in the cart for 32 Mbit and 12 for tales or star ocean, which quite frankly ain't happening. If I can get a hold of 1 MB 8-bit eproms though then it's no trouble at all. As far as cost goes though 0.5 MB eproms are about half or less the price of 1 MB ones so price would be about the same using either chip.
2. As far a the label goes I have neither the equipment nor the artistic talent to make nice labels. So you can either make your own label and apply it when you get the game OR you could sen your design to me and I could get it printed at a print shop or something this is really the only part I am not totally sure on the cost.
3. Provided the game you want a repro of is 16Mbit max or I can get some 1 MB eproms, the solder work isn't all that much work and I won't likely charge more than $15 for the service. If that is not the case (over 16 Mbit or I can't get the 1 MB eproms). I probably won't do it unless you really motivate me.
4. Only non commercially released or fan translated games. I want people to enjoy games that were never officially released in cart form they way they were meant to be enjoyed. I have no interest is starting up a bootlegging business.
5. I might be willing to do a repro in trade for some retro gaming goodness. What am I interested in? Just about anything and everything console and handheld related. If you think you have something I might want don't hesitate to let me know.
Also this is all still up in the air if I am going to start this up. So don't get your hopes up, If I get enough serious interest and I can get all my ducks lined up in a row, I'll start taking a few orders. At this point prices aren't set but I can probably get most games made from $40 to $60. Smaller games would be cheaper of course. That includes the parts and labor but not shipping.
Where as I think the facts repros can be easily made nowadays is fantasic...
Doesnt it raise a little worry with anyone?
Some of these repros are made to such a high standard, its hard to tell the two apart. Good right? Well maybe for a fan translation cart or a unreleased prototype.
But how long is it till perfect replicas of games such as StarFox Super Weekend Cartridge, Exertainment Mountain Bike Rally/Speed Racer, Aero Fighters and Chavez II start hitting the auction and sale sites?
If the labels are done so well, how on earth would you be able to tell the difference in a small gallery picture? And whats to say you wont know the difference once it arrives?
Its just worrying as I know out there are a few villians who try to cash in on us collectors. Weve all read about the various scams we have all suffered. Ive suffered some myself, one involving empty dvd cases with sega saturn covers printed out into them. Comparing a large bundle of those printed DVD cases to the PAL cases in a small gallery picture was near impossible. So how on earth will we be able to spot a repro of an expensive game nowadays?
The only way you could tell would be to open the cart and see how the chips are connected. I would never think to open up a cartridge to check I have the real deal as id be sat for a long time.
And I think the last thought I should leave you with is...
Think twice when a Gold NWC cart hits the net!
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If you open it up then it's impossible not to be able to tell the difference >< So ask for pictures of it opened maybe? ;p
That is exactly the reason why I refuse to make repros of commercially released games (barring fan translations, as you will know it's a repro when you see a japan only game in a snes cart shell), even if only <100 were ever made. Unscrupulous sellers are going to pass them off as the real deal, something that we all as collectors should not want to happen.
I agree though don't try to replicate the label to look as close to the original as possible, if even a small change, do something to distinguish it from official commercial releases.
Sorry, but I wouldn't spend 60 dollars on a fake cart just because it has a fan translation. The original game would be fine with me because I'd end up using my PSP to play the translation anyways.
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